Tech Soft 3D, a company specializing in software development kits for visualization tools, has seen significant growth and changes since its inception in 1996. A few years ago, they began to encounter difficulties in handling accounts receivable. They sought a streamlined solution for complex usage-based billing, customer contract management, and budgeting insights. 

The Challenge: Navigating the financial and accounting complexity of royalty and recurring contract fee structures

Tech Soft 3D’s business model involves a recurring customer fee and a distribution royalty that varies with a customer’s commercial use of their products. This made it difficult for the team to:

• Automate billing process, including complex contracts, multiple currencies, bundled products, royalty distribution, and tiered fees
• Get better insight into customer behavior and performance
• Forecast revenue for effective budget planning
• Comply with accounting standards and regulations

The team implemented NetSuite ERP in 2015. As the business grew, it started to experience issues with recurring contracts and billing processes. Despite efforts to customize it, they realized the standard NetSuite billing module was no longer suitable for the way they needed to bill and recognize revenue. 

‍“As we grew, traditional tools like NetSuite’s standard billing module or QuickBooks could no longer cut it–The nuances of our contracts and royalties became too complex to manage. More complex business models require more sophisticated billing systems.” - David White, Business Services Manager at Tech Soft 3D

The team was dealing with complex contract terms, such as bundled products, variable royalties, and tiered fees. They spent significant time in Excel spreadsheets trying to tie up information related to royalty charge creation and scheduling, bill amounts, billing in arrears, accurate bundled product billing, and effectively forecasting revenue. This kept them from accessing valuable insight into future revenue streams as well as customer performance and white space opportunities.

Tech Soft 3D had an Accounts Receivable specialist for each major region: NOAM, EMEA, and APAC. Every quarter, they each blocked calendars for two business days simply to send out invoices. This totaled over 6 days of manual invoicing for the team. In addition, they had to manually keep track of payments and royalty reports sent in by email.

“Our team spent at least two full business days every quarter just to send invoices. We were stuck in a cycle of administrative tasks that deflected us from our core roles.” - David White, Business Services Manager at Tech Soft 3D

Tech Soft 3D needed a solution that seamlessly integrated with NetSuite and automated billing processes, simplified contract management, and provided them with actionable insights for budgeting and forecasting. 

The Solution: A 100% automated subscription-based billing solution that streamlined Accounts Receivable in NetSuite

Tech Soft 3D wanted to work with someone who understood their industry and specific needs. They were looking for guidance on what was possible and what should be done differently for the system to function in the way they needed it to. In March 2018, they were recommended ZoneBilling as the solution for their needs by a consultant. 

“After finding out about ZoneBilling, everything felt as if the sky opened up and sunlight was coming through and we could see the light at the end of the tunnel.” - David White, Business Services Manager at Tech Soft 3D

ZoneBilling was a perfect fit for Tech Soft 3D’s business model. The team immediately realized how effectively the solution handles royalty distribution complexities and recurring fee structures, allowing them to forecast revenue streams, monitor customer performance, minimize administrative work, and completely automate their accounts receivable all within NetSuite. 

Zone & Co’s ZoneBilling allowed the team to easily create subscriptions for each customer contract. Through this functionality, they can set unique parameters for each customer including fee structures, billing models and periods, royalty calculations, contract terms, automatic notifications and email sends, and approval processes directly in NetSuite. Essentially, it's a set-and-forget system.

Having the distribution royalty feature as part of the subscription item in NetSuite was essential for Tech Soft 3D. For product bundles, ZoneBilling helps them separate the particular item for billing into different products (as many as they need) and lets them split in percentages – something they could never do before.

“We're not sending invoices–they go automatically. And if they don't, the subscription has a drop-down that tells you the [customer] needs a PO, and you know you need to go chase the PO.” - David White, Business Services Manager at Tech Soft 3D

The Result: 6 working days a quarter saved through automated, error-free subscription management in NetSuite

Automated processes replaced the once-manual functions at Tech Soft 3D, which drastically increased the efficiency of the team. This helped them spend time on more meaningful tasks and ensured accounting accuracy. Confidence in accurate accounting also resulted in the team having fewer headaches when it came time for auditing. 

“Once a labor-intensive operation, managing our billing processes became a breeze with the subscription functionality. As a result, we gained better control and understanding of our revenue sources.” - David White, Business Services Manager at Tech Soft 3D

By implementing ZoneBilling, David and his team achieved what they set out to accomplish at the start of their search for a tailored solution. Some of the main outcomes include:

Completely automated billing processes: The team saves 24 business days a year thanks to ZoneBilling. They no longer worry about manually sending invoices, tracking payments, missing fee increases, or updating contract terms. David and his team simply set up subscriptions once and ZoneBilling takes care of the rest. Contracted fee increases are automated complete with email alerts to customers. 

Simplified subscription management in NetSuite: With ZoneBilling, David easily tracks data related to subscriptions, contracts, and payments, from start to finish. He manages everything from the subscription record in NetSuite. From one screen he has access to details such as invoices, payments, forecasts, offsets, associated products, price increases, any changes in the chosen models, and more, for any customer. ZoneBilling also sends automatic notifications and invoices to the customer and collects and reconciles payments. This results in significant time savings for David and reduces the risk of errors or inconsistencies.

Better visibility and control over royalty distribution: David and his team can now set up subscriptions for each customer contract, with varying billing cycles, fee structures, and royalty calculations. ZoneBilling automatically calculates royalties based on contract terms and real usage data. It updates contracts as needed in the case of changes or renewals. ZoneBilling allows Tech Soft 3D to bill in arrears for royalties, which used to be a headache.

‍Tracking and analysis of customer performance: The team can monitor and report on their customer’s behavior and performance, by tracking the growth, usage, and preferences. They can see which customers are growing, which ones are not, in which quarters they had higher or lower royalty distribution, what products need more focus, and so on. This enables their marketing and sales team to tailor their outreach and support strategies and to address any issues or opportunities with their customers.

Streamlined audit compliance: When it’s audit time, David can rest easy knowing each customer record in NetSuite has all the information needed by the auditors such as errors, credits, journal entries, and billing history. This ensures that David and his team follow audit requirements and can quickly and confidently answer any audit queries, without having to search for files or emails. 

Better control, forecasting, and budgeting: Forecasting revenue is no longer a challenge for David and his team. Thanks to ZoneBilling, they can now complete a five-year forecast easily. Projecting customer growth and product demand, and budgeting accordingly are also easier processes. ZoneBilling’s review feature helps the team ensure subscription accuracy as it lets them confirm with a coworker if the subscription contracts are correct before publication, preventing costly mistakes or misunderstandings. 

‍“ZoneBilling solved our biggest problem of forecasting revenue in the future. It gave us insights into something we had no insight into before–which [customers] are growing, which ones are not, and which products need more focus.” - David White, Business Services Manager at Tech Soft 3D

The Conclusion

With the adoption of ZoneBilling, Tech Soft 3D marked a pivotal advancement in operational efficiency. Billing processes became seamlessly integrated through automation, liberating the team from manual tasks. With ZoneBilling, Tech Soft 3D now navigates billing, subscription, and royalty management with ease, while gaining invaluable insights for future forecasting and strategic decision-making. 

“ZoneBilling is not just a billing platform, it’s a business intelligence tool.” - David White, Business Services Manager at Tech Soft 3D

Join 200+ businesses that trust ZoneBilling to handle their complex billing challenges. Book a free demo today and find out how ZoneBilling can meet your specific business needs.

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